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Time--2017 A to Z Theme

My theme for the 2018 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is "Cleaning the Clutter"--I might literally be cleaning my closets or figuratively clearing the excess from some other part of my life. I'm sure you can think of other things this could mean for you as well.

As a young girl dreaming of being a writer I had visions of living a solitary life in a remote location where I would write books, package up manuscripts, and mail them off to my agent who would negotiate a perfect deal with the publisher.

Fast-forward to 2012 where my dreams—and the publishing world—have both changed dramatically. I work full-time at a corporate job, I don’t live in a remote location, and I don’t have an agent, but I have published a book. Today it’s easier than ever for writers to make their work available to readers thanks to the avenue of self-publishing.

You don’t have to spend money in order to self-publish but there are some things you may want to consider paying for.

Editing. Long before making the decision to self-publish I knew I was going to pay a professional editor for a comprehensive and copy edit of my manuscript when it was finished. I would never have dreamed of submitting it to agents or publishers without taking this step. Two Hearts would not be the book it is today without the help of my editor

Cover Design. I’m a writer, not an artist. I can’t draw, I don’t have a strong sense of design, and it would have been foolish for me to try to design a cover for the book. I also don’t have access to the beautiful fonts used on the cover and in the interior of the book (although I could have purchased them if I wanted to do it myself). I worked with a design team who provided options and suggestions based on my recommendations of how I wanted the book to look. I spent some time on iStockPhoto finding just the right photograph for the cover and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.

Interior Design. If I had unlimited time available to me I could have formatted the interior of my book myself. This is not necessarily an easy task to take on and there is a lot to think about. Take a look at any book. What is the font? Where are the page numbers? What’s printed on the top and bottom of each page? What fleurons are used throughout the book? I took into account the time I would have had to spend doing all of this and for me it was an easy decision to pay someone to do it for me.

ISBN. I could have used an ISBN provided by free by CreateSpace but I chose to purchase my own instead. I wrote more about the reasons for this decision over at Women’s Memoirs recently.

eBook Formatting. I seriously considered doing this myself and even downloaded some tools from Kindle Direct Publishing to do it with. When I started looking at it I told myself if it took more than a couple of hours to convert my manuscript to ebook format I’d go ahead and pay the small amount of money to have someone do it for me. That’s what I ended up doing.

Royalties from self-published books are higher than what you receive from a traditional publisher. That, coupled with the fact that I have a full-time job, made the decision to spend some money up front for these services an easy one.

Keep in mind that you should never have to pay someone to publish your book though. While you may, as I did, choose to pay for services associated with the design and formatting of your book, the actual publication of your book should not cost you anything. If you’re asked to pay to have your book published you’re likely dealing with a vanity press. With a vanity press you will likely not retain control of the rights to your book and you will have little chance of having your book available via mainstream distribution avenues.

Linda Hoye is a writer, editor, adoptee, and somewhat-fanatical grandma. Her memoir,Two Hearts: An Adoptee’s Journey Through Grief to Gratitude will offer hope and inspiration to anyone who’s life has been touched by adoption. She currently lives in the state of Washington with her husband and their two Yorkshire terriers, but Saskatchewan, Canada will always be her heart’s home.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Nothing better than some hump day humor, which is what you're going to get on this installment of Hijack This Blog!. My guest today is Steve Bailey who can normally found at From the Mind of a Mad Man. Enjoy today's bit of zaniness from Steve and then hop on over to his blog if you want to sign up for more of the same. It's a fun funny world....

And Now Take It Away Steve!All right so this is my first guest blog....Im not sure what to wear?

Maybe my keyboard armor?

Maybe not...Ah whatever...Now today I have a confession... er... post.Its a story I feel I must share with you all.... A TRUE STORY!

You see last weekend.... While making yet another creative breakfast....

The old severed hand breakfast...
...which is bloody delicious!!

Well... I got to some thinking.. I decided I needed to get out and get some fresh air...I needed to enjoy me some nature...So I talked my girlfriend into joining me... On a short little hike..

Now first off... like any good "hikey"... We had to get prepared for our "voluntary walking torture"... er... hike....

So I put on my hiking clothes...

And she put on her hiking boots.........

Which..... she would SO later regret...

(Bonus fact "People who hike regularly"- they also make ladies hiking sandals these days!!)

Which 9 out of 10 women reviewed as...
"Ankle Shattering!"

But anyways.... thats not what I wanted to talk about. This story isn't about shoes its about "the hike"....And so... for us.. being the novice hikers we are...We picked out a short little 5 mile loop to hike...And we set out.... cranked up the tunes....

And car karaoked all the way to the forest.
Man we were feeling good!

But we would NEVER COMPLETE THAT LOOP!! More on that later.

Now at first the hike was fun....

We crossed streams... and hiked small hills...

And all was good...We even met some very friendly fellow hikers who helped point us in the right direction....

But with the "pointer mother nature gave him?"

And so we hiked on.....We.... even ran into a man stuck in some quicksand...

Who offered us booze... before he sank.
How nice was that!!
"Hiking rules!"... the couch potato in me said.

We were having so much fun....I joked about coming back out here another weekend...

But in my bear costume...
I mean how great would that be!

We even talked about taking our hiking to the next level one day..

The over the edge level!

All was so good..Hiking was stupid easy!!!

So we hiked on.....

And we crossed streams... and small hills...

And hiked on even more...

And we crossed streams... and small hills....

And it was less fun.

"Man shouldn't we be back by now" I thought to myself..."Had I not seen this same stupid hill already" I thought?And then it happened...

I realized we were lost.You see I had been reading my girlfriends compass all day!

And it was dead wrong!!!

As it turns out we were now 8 miles in... And tired.... And lost...

Now... I knew what to do when lost in snow...
but not nicer weather???

My girlfriend now upset and tired... was done with this!I needed a plan!So I thought and I thought...And then I had an extremely "tough" power bar...

This one?

And then I thought some more.....And then it happened...I came up with a plan....

You see we needed to turn around and.... "Hike back some 8 miles" I told her.....

And explained to her with my fingers.

She responded to my plan .....

With hers....

So with nothing else to do... we turned around...And walked...And walked....And walked....And after seeing some rock formations that seemed to be only....

"Mocking us?"

We eventually made it back to the car.Hallelujah!!!We could finally go home...

However.... and sadly...

That was not to be.

You see it didn't start..
Apparently some car karaoke-er had left the radio on??

So we did what true hikers would do in this situation..

We walked home...In what I now refer to as... "The long expletive hike home?"

Now I would like to tell you all a story of how we grew closer as we hiked home.... And that we now laugh about our adventure these few days later....

But I think that will have to wait....

Till her blisters subside?

Till then...And from the dog house...Blog ya'll later!

Coming up on Friday is some very useful information about self-publishing from author Linda Hoye. I am continuing to consider guest posts into September and beyond. If interested leave a note in the comment section or click the Hijack This Blog! tab at the top of the page to sign up.

Altercation : The FBI promises Jacinta Rivera and her friends that they are safe. Jaci wants desperately to believe them but weeks of hiding from their kidnapper, alias "The Hand", have left her wary. Hidden from the public eye in an FBI safe house, Jaci must reconcile both the mysterious disappearance of her father and the murder of her best friend.

A betrayal lands Jaci back in the grasp of The Hand, shattering her ability to trust and leaving her to wonder if she will ever piece together her broken life.

Friday, June 22, 2012

My Hijack This Blog! campaign has been taking shape rather nicely. Below I have the schedule that has been confirmed to date. The blank dates are still open for anyone who is interested. I have a number of pending considerations that will rapidly fill the remaining dates once confirmation has been made on those.

I already have several of the posts set up and ready to go. There is some good stuff coming that will inform you, entertain you, and make you think. Please be sure to check my site every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to show your support for these bloggers who are contributing such excellent content. And don't forget to comment. I guarantee you that a few of these posts will compel you to comment so if you've got something you want to say, be sure to express yourself. My guests want your input just as much as I do.

If there is enough interest I will expand the calendar into and beyond September. In fact, I already have one guest lined up for November. So don't be shy or afraid. Be a part of my experiment and help yourself while you help me.

Let me also remind you that I am also accepting guest posts at my memoir blog Wrote By Rote and my dream blog A Faraway View. If you want to try your hand at memoir writing or impart some advice regarding what you know about writing memoir, you can submit your guest post on this blog that publishes every Saturday. On Thursdays, my dream blog is extending an invitation to anyone who has dreams to share or who would like to discuss their theories and thoughts on what dreams are and what they mean. Please check out both of those blogs to see if you might have something you'd like to offer. Creativity is calling you.

We are also accepting guest posts at the A to Z Blog. Many spaces are available on that site and we have a place for you. Your post there doesn't strictly have to be about the A to Z Challenge either. Stephen Tremp has been presenting a fascinating series on science every other Thursday. On Fridays Nicole Ayers offers fun and diversion to start your weekend off right. We've had many of you offer a whole range of topics at the site--everything from A to Z and I'm not talking about the Challenge. If you've got something you want to present to the A to Z community this is the place to do it.

My thanks to everyone who has signed up for Hijack This Blog! so far. And also thanks to those who have signed up on the other sites or who will be soon. I'm looking forward to the posts that are coming up.

Have you signed up for one of my guest posts yet? If so, would you like to tell us what you'll be presenting? If you haven't signed up for a spot, is there something that's holding you back?

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

I'm fascinated with conspiracy theories. On a recent discussion forum that had digressed from the subject of blogging to internet conspiracies, I met up with suspense/action/thriller author R.D. Pittman. He told me about his new book trilogy and I became interested in what he was doing. I've invited Rick to Hijack This Blog to give us an introduction to his work.

My Writing Goals:

I consider myself more of a story-teller than some renowned author hoping to land that big publishing deal. If you visit my websitehttp://www.rdpittman.com my biography tells it all. My goal in telling a story is to give the reader a pleasurable reading experience…I’m not trying to impress anyone. In the New Earth Trilogy I had a message to give to the American people…we take our freedoms for granted…we take this planet for granted…and we very often take each other for granted. I didn’t write it blatantly and shove it in the readers face, but on reflection the reader will stop and consider the story they’ve just read and realize we are all guilty of this.

For me the characters and the story/plot are closely linked. A weak character can dilute a good story and vice versa. Writing fiction is not like going to a movie, where a scene change can rescue a boring or poorly written script. I see it as critical for me to maintain the reader’s attention/interest from paragraph to paragraph. I view words as a tool. Edward Sapir, a semanticist was quoted as saying ‘Language is the mold of thought’, we choose words to convey our thoughts…I choose words to describe a character’s disposition, the world about, how the character interacts with the environment, and how the character reacts to other characters.

My son once asked me if I liked everything I wrote the first time around. I told him no, I compared myself to an artist with a palette of colors (words) to choose from. I use words to bring color (life) to a character and the story. As a writer, I end up throwing away a lot of canvas, because the colors (words) are not conveying to the reader what I want.

The best compliment a reader could give me about one of my books is what I’ve been hearing from people about the New Earth books. ‘I couldn’t put it down.’ or ‘I read the entire book over the weekend.’ I take that to mean I was able to keep their attention to the end…that’s what I strive for.

Writing is not a job to me it is a passion. Confucius said, “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” My Writing Approach:
The things I am most conscious of when I write is equal parts of the following:

Insuring that the point of view is not confusing to the reader.

That interior dialogue is not overused-- getting into the head of a character too often can be overdone.

Avoiding the penchant to over explain something to the point it becomes insulting to the reader.

Utilizing speaker attributes to add emotion to dialogue, or give the reader an insight into the speaker’s disposition.

Interjecting a beat among a long string of dialogue to give the reader a break.

Utilizing the paragraph as a tool to add emphasis and breaking up the thought process into more manageable parts for the reader.

I rewrote the first book in the New Earth series, Project O.N.E. four times. The second book, The Search for Justice, nine times, and the third, The Sedna/Kern Incident, seven times. Usually the last two rewrites are edits for grammar and punctuation.

Why should someone read my books? If you’re tired of the vampire, werewolf, latest blood and guts cult massacre, and witches coven genres…same story different book cover, then I offer you a trilogy that has a sci-fi slant with a government cover-up, and many twists and turns along the way.

I enjoy disaster movies--Earthquake, Armageddon, Deep Impact, 2012-- but what you never see or ever read about is what is going on behind the scenes in these calamities. How are the people that may be affected by these events reacting? What are they doing to cope with the potential for annihilation? What is the government’s role in preparing the people for such an event? How desperate will the citizens become when a potential cataclysmic event becomes public? What kind of planning goes into a disaster survival plan?

My books have suspense and thriller type plots; about sacrifice, family values, and American heroes. If you like adventure, intrigue, and a good old fashioned story about conspiracy...then you should have a pleasurable reading experience.

I’m more about storytelling…not imparting some highbrow writing style. I believe that a reader should feel comfortable when reading a story and not be compelled to dash to the nearest dictionary to research the derivation of some nondescript word that is rarely used in everyday life. That’s how I write, for the reader, not the book critic or the various literary societies; I try and talk to a reader as if they were sitting next to me on a bench in the park on a sunny day. I’m not looking to impress the reader, but entertain them.

Fact vs Fiction?

I’ve watched a lot of disaster movies in my lifetime and I can always pick out something that’s just not physically possible in these types of movies…and they’re the big budget ones at that. The ‘B’ movies are sometimes laughable when they portray current day technology that simply doesn’t exist. A lot of my work is fact, built around a fictionalized story, time and/or place.

The New Earth trilogy required a tremendous amount of research; asteroid impact speeds, angle of descent, land and seabed displacement values on impact, temperature of heat surges, comet characteristics, mapping our galaxy with known comet tracks, tsunami measurements initially, then as they approach landfall. I used Google maps to determine an escape route through the Canadian Northwest for two Russian agents. I spoke to the Nellis AFB Public Affairs Office in Las Vegas to get air to air pilot jargon patterned. I visited every military website to determine mission imperatives, force strengths, munitions inventory, aircraft, tanks, artillery, ranks of enlisted and officers, base locations and what units were housed at those locations. The settings in this Trilogy change from California, to Washington D.C., to St. Petersburg, Russia…locations in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, South America, Vietnam and Central America needed research on streets, shopping malls, agriculture, rivers, nightlife, bars, and restaurants. That was some of the source material I used and I intertwined with my story.

I do this because it lends more credence to the story. Writing fiction gives all of us some latitude or license, as it’s sometimes referred to, in spinning our tales. But as I mentioned above, you can look pretty silly by making some outlandish statement that has no validity to it. If the reader senses that, you’ll lose some of their buy-in to the story.

My Next Project:

I expect my current project to be published either late this year or early next year, the first book of the two book set will be entitled;

New Earth:

TRILOGY

Description: New Earth: Project O.N.E. is a sci-fi thriller that asks "What if Armageddon was today?" First of a trilogy, and set in the year 2015, the New Earth series is about a government cover-up of an impending worldwide disaster involving almost every level of government, from FEMA and the CIA to the National Security Advisor! But as the story unfolds, the reader discovers that not everything is what it seems, and the future of mankind hangs in the balance.

Rickard D. Pittman

Pen Name R.D. Pittman

Rick, his first name really is Rickard, spent most of his early youth on farms in the Parker County Texas area. It was there that he was exposed to the rich heritage of story-telling, prevalent in the social structure of small town Texas. Weekly trips from the farm to the nearby town square afforded him the opportunity to sit and listen in on old men telling their stories of hunting and fishing. Occasionally, he would be rewarded with a story about a distant relative that was a horse thief, or an Indian fighter, and on one occasion a Texas Ranger. In his youthful excitement listening to these men spin their tales of the old west and their colorful lives, he never questioned the voracity of the story teller nor thought to put much of a test to the credence of their facts. He was fascinated by the art of storytelling, how the storyteller would stop and look away for a moment, then spit tobacco as if it were an exclamation point. Raise an eyebrow to indicate skepticism, drop their head and lower their tone of voice to show sorrow or regret.

He suppressed his hidden desire to write for nearly thirty-five years, until he sat down in the summer of 2008 and began to write, working ten hours a day for several months he produced two novels, both in excess of one hundred thousand words. He spent the next three years revising the books. It wasn’t until 2011 that he engaged a professional editor to prepare the books for publication. His first efforts at storytelling produced a trilogy, New Earth: Project O.N.E., New Earth: The Search for Justice, and New Earth: The Sedna/Kern Incident.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Now that I have your attention...just kidding. But seriously, blogging has encroached on some aspects of my life that I need to pay more attention to--like writing for example. I've always defended my blogging activity as writing, which it is, but there is some other writing I need to focus my time on. Contributing content to 5 different blogs has been taking its toll.

I don't want to just blog-cate or go into a dormant phase. I want to keep things active here at Tossing It Out. So I'm recruiting interested parties who would like to use this space as their own to HIJACK THIS BLOG. Not permanently, but just one post at a time.

What Am I Talking About?

For the next few months I'm inviting anyone who has something interesting to say to be my guest on Tossing It Out. Will you be announcing a book release in the next few months or are you doing a blog tour?--make a stop here. Is there a special event or a cause that you'd like to promote? I'll consider that as well. Would you like to write a tribute to someone special in your life or celebrate a very special date? We can do that. Do you have something you really need to say or just want to get your writing out to a wider audience beyond your own blog? This is your opportunity to do so.

This will be your showcase so you will want to give the audience something good to show off what you can do. You will be promoting yourself and whatever you want people to know that you do. Guest posting is a recommended way of gaining greater exposure so it is something any blogger interested in platform building should be doing. Are you ready to take the stage? Here's your chance. Hijack this Blog!

What Should You Write About?

Last week I had three excellent guest posts that I encourage you to check out if you missed them.

These were three very different posts that will give you a good idea of the types of things you might do for your own guest appearance. Your imagination is the limit. My request would be that your post be less than 1000 words and contain no gratuitous profanity or anything that would be blatantly offensive to the general audience. Controversial is okay--I think most of you are sensible enough to know what would be appropriate and I'm always willing to listen to what you have to say about what you'd like to present.

If you're ready to commit now, then fill out the information in the boxes below. All information will be confidential and will be only for the purpose of me communicating with you. If you're not ready to reserve a date today, this sign up list will be available at the top of this blog page by clicking the tab that says "Hijack This Blog". Sign up soon if you want to guarantee a spot on my blog calendar.

Stephen Tremp is a blogger who has been a guest on Tossing It Out in the past. You can read his guest posts here and here. Stephen Tremp's action packed sci-fi suspense thriller Breakthrough is available for a free download for a limited time this week. Go to his blog Welcome to Author Stephen Tremp's Website for more details. I gave this book a five star review on Amazon when I read it two years ago. Now you read it and let us know what you think. Be sure to also get a copy of Opening, the second book in the Breakthrough series. I'm ready for the third installment in the series. This is some intense reading that will get you hooked from the start.

A Word of Warning!

What if I don't find enough hijackers to blog on this site for the time I need free? Then I may be resorting to some really wacky stuff that I've had waiting in the wings. I don't think you want me to turn some of this stuff loose, but my loony side beckons to be unleashed. I'm sure it will all be coming eventually, but do you really want it all at once? I assure you--you do not!

Have I gone nuts? Do you want to do a guest post here? Will you tell your fellow writers and bloggers about this please? They don't even have to have a blog to do this, though it's good for readers to be able to contact them if they want. Would you do something like this on your own blog?

Also I was surprised to find myself listed as the "listener of the week" at blogger buddy Buck Inspire. Buck usually is more focused on matters of finance, though as a new father he's had issues of babies and parenthood on his mind of late. He also does movie revues and whatever else happens to be on his mind. Drop by and visit Buck Inspire.

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I Am BlogMan!

Who's responsible for this blog anyway?

A juggler of words and phrases. My main blog is Tossing It Out. The focus blog for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge can now be found at a-to-zchallenge.com where updates will be posted until the event in April begins.
Wrote By Rote is about memoir writing.
A Few Words is my Sunday contemplation blog.
A Faraway View is about dreams. Pick what you like or look at them all. I love blogging!